I was recently contacted by a man who purchased an Ashton 3 chime whistle at a sale a few years back. It's a beauty. He sent me some pictures of the whistles. Take a look.
Did that person know it's original use? I'm wondering if it might have been maritime? I'd love to heard the sound.
He bought it at an estate sale a number of years ago. He hasn't heard it yet. He is planning on contacting a local RR club to try and hear how it sounds. I think it's maritime too. It's been appraised at over $10.000 !
I just picked up a circa 1895 Ashton catalog. Only 12 pages long! The next year (1896) the catalog was 75 pages.
Some of the old Ashton catalogs are online now on archive.org, a great site for information on almost everything. https://archive.org/details/ashtonvalvetradecatalogs
In 1897 the Moran Bros. received a discounted price list of their products. Here are the prices they received.
In 1903 there was a bill before congress to shorten the work day for laborers on government work to 8 hours. Here was the Ashton Valve response. Some background on this bill. https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/coalstrike
1877, the company first incorporated in Hartford CT. I recently was able to obtain a copy of the letter from the Hartford Daily Courant which is attached below along with a photo of one of the first stock certificates.
I just picked up this Ashton pop safety valve. This was manufactured after the company left Cambridge Mass in 1948 and set up in Wrentham, Ma. It was sold under the Crosby-Ashton name.
